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Inspirational Stations

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38K views 148 replies 33 participants last post by  Norman Byrne  
#1 ·
There are many stations that inspire modellers. I suspect that we each have a favourite location that we would like to model. How often do we dream of what we would create if only we had the time/money/understanding spouse/someone made a suitable kit .......... yes there are many reasons why these railway layouts never get built but the dream remains in a corner of your mind. At odd idle moments you search out that dream, run your mind over the perfectly executed track diagram, imagine yourself holding an exquisite model of the station building which you have just built with your newly found scratch building skills. Then the car driver behind you runs out of patience and honks as the lights return to red.

But why not share that dream. If you are unable to build it ...........

I will start the ball rolling with Döbeln Hauptbanhof (Main Station) which is situated on the Dresden to Leipzig (via the Muldentalbahn) route where it crosses the Chemnitz to Berlin line.

Image

Looking East 120 278 runs through the station with a freight off the Dresden line. 21/09/90

The interesting layout is shown to advantage in the first photo.

Image

A simplified plan view.

Image

132 039 leaves with a service to Chemnitz 21/09/90

Image

118 747 arriving from the West, again on 21/09/90

All the previous photographs were taken before the East German DR was merged with the West German DB. This was the scene just a year after the wall came down. Not much changed on the railways.

Image

Now electrified, we see 143 087 pushes a short rake of double decker coaches.

Image

Here another modern view shows some more station details.

I travelled through this station a few times but never had the time to alight and take some photographs. I find the station layout to be very interesting and hope to incorporate something of the essence of this place in a future layout.

I found the wonderful photographs on Flickr, specifically here: Werner & Hansjörg Brutzer Flickr collection. I wrote to Werner asking for permission to use their photos on MRF and he has graciously given permission. I urge all to visit their fabulous Flickr collection, you will not be disappointed.

Anyone else like to share their dream?

Best regards .............. Greyvoices (alias John)

Image

Nearly forgot the roundhouse. 201 050 on shed with a pair of shunting locomotives in 1992.
 
#2 ·
Hi John,
What a great subject to start with and thanks for the link to the W&HB collection, fascinating stuff!
Of the many, many prototypes that have given me inspiration - the main UK one for me was always Ambergate, in it's heyday.
Your plan for Döbeln kind of reminds me slightly!
Cheers,
John E.
 
#3 ·
Yes, I too agree about the promise of this thread. And - coincidence - I too first thought of Ambergate!

Though I never actually alighted on any of its pairs of timber platforms precariously propped against the three sides of the triangular junction, it always fascinated. For us the slow run through Ambergate announced the final exciting stretch home through the Peak to either Millers Dale/ Buxton or to Chinley from St Pancras.
Then when I read more railway history, I found it to be on the length of York and North Midland line where Geordie Stephenson really consolidated his position as an industrialist with the development of quarries, mines and ironworks set up as a result of what they unearthed in driving the line through the geology of east Derbyshire.

So as Ambergate has already been spoken for, I will have to think on.....

LF&T
 
#4 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ah yes of course, Ambergate. Good choice John (Allegheny) and LF&T. I have the impression that LF&T is considering a more fulsome contribution to this thread and that is what I am hoping for. Name a station and, if possible illustrate your choice with images and track plans ....... that's if you can. If you are only able to name a location and, hopefully, add an element of comment, then asking others to come forward with images etc. is a good way to go. Of course, a link to an image is also fine.

One point on using material gleaned on the internet; I make sure that there is no copyright infringement and, when I am in doubt I send a quick note to the photographer asking for permission to use the image. I am not trying to impose any rules .......... just feeling my way into this new thread. If anyone can think of a better way to proceed then please speak up.

Best regards ................... Greyvoices (alias John)
 
#5 ·
QUOTE (Norman Byrne @ 6 Jul 2013, 08:21) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Like the sound of the new Inspirational Stations thread, also like the sample pictures you have posted of Doblen; that certainly is a very interesting track arrangement ! Whilst on a much much smaller scale, it reminds me of Lewes, which I travelled to for a few years, when working at Glyndebourne. I must say the diverging track & "V" shaped platform arrangement is one that really appeals to me as well.

Norm

On another thread Norm has come up with Lewes. Yes I remember it well from my student days as I attended Sussex University, just down the Brighton line at Falmer. I sometimes bunked off for the afternoon to Lewes when I fancied a change from drinking in the student bar. What's that you are asking; what sort of a degree did I get?

Lewes station is fascinating so if you want to post something here Norm please do. No pressure.

Perhaps an image to start the ball rolling:

Image

Look at that trackwork

Best regards .............. Greyvoices (alias John)
 
3
#6 ·
I could sit and look at KX station throat all day at the latter-end of its steam era configuration, and often did. The weave of the track to access 'all points' of the confined site, and the grunting and squealing as the stock negotiated it. Two stations, one of them a major terminus and through running, a loco fuelling and turning location, some freight traffic facilities, relatively compact, it's got it all from a modelling perspective. The essentials can be accomodated in a 2.6 by 1.6 m area in 4mm. All this before the most beautiful family of steam loco designs come into view...
 
N
#9 ·
Hi John / All,

Thanks for posting the Lewes station picture & text from my original post, I do like the picture you found.

As you say NO Pressure, so thought I would do a bit of digging on the Lewes Station front, & would offer the following; I have to say from some searching on the internet, the past & current railway "history" of Lewes is far more involved / lively, than I had every realised;

A variety of pictures of Lewes station(* and others) through the ages can be found on the website below;
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=lewes+...amp;FORM=IGRE#a

*** Stop Press ...... I cannot cut paste the word document it seems; will continue to try, to add to what I think will be a very interesting thread.

Thanks again John.

Cheers,

Norm
 
6
#10 ·
An interesting thread.
If you asked me a station that probably influenced the rest of my life as an enthusiast, modeller, human being etc.. it would have to be Liverpool Street.
I grew up near Croydon, my dad played sport for Lloyds at their ground in Hainault. This meant he had me on Saturday afternoons, while my sister most often went with my mum. So in the mid 1950s it was a trolley bus outside our house to Tooting Broadway to start with, then came the fun... Change at Bank for central line to Hainault - only when pressed for time. Otherwise get out at Liverpool Street, on to the Gidea Park local to Stratford, trainspotting and on to Hainault. The thing that got me most though, was when Dad had to drop in to the office, then we'd walk to Leadenhall Market, coffee in Pino's café, then on to Bishopsgate, then we'd go into Liverpool Street from the small entrance on Bishopsgate, straight on to the footbridge that straddled the platforms! The vastness of the space, the steam, everything made such an impression. Onto the electric to Stratford, racing the N7s in the tunnel on the Chingford/Enfield lines, the station pilots, the shiny Brits on the Norwich trains, the B12s on the Southend/Clacton side etc. It was these days that shaped my interest. After football or cricket, Dad would always time departure from Hainault to make sure we could change at Stratford, nip down to the Silvertown Line to see a J15 or L1, back up to watch the Hook Continental go through, then make our way back home. Awesome, thanks Dad for all that.

I think my birthday present in 1957 went as follows : trolley bus into East Croydon; steam hauled (Oxted Line) into Victoria; on the tube to Waterloo; Bournemouth semi-fast with King Arthur in charge to Woking; Portsmouth electric to Guildford; L1 hauled train to Redhill; then Brighton semi-fast back to East Croydon. Not a long trip distance-wise, but what an impression on a 5-year old kid! Thanks Dad again.

My modelling inspirations come next, and remember in this regard, both London Bridge and Liverpool Street were real stations, with model shops. London Bridge in the forecourt shops and Liverpool St in the arcade. Anyone else remember??

6991
 
#11 ·
Great memories 6991. Liverpool St. Station was fascinating. I passed through it many times as a boy and later, when I was a student in Brighton with a girlfriend in Cambridge I became acquainted with the post steam feel of the place. Later still I had a part to play in the station's remodelling, a different atmosphere. The real Liverpool St. is the one that you describe 6991, the place was never the same once the long platforms were cut back ....... logical but somehow the uniqueness was gone.

Best regards ............... Greyvoices (alias John)
 
N
#12 ·
Hi 6991,

I can only agree great memories indeed - to the extent of almost painting a very clear picture for those who were not lucky enough to have been there in person.

I also do have childhood memories of the "aladins cave" model shop tucked into the front of the old London Bridge station, now somewhere underneath the footprint of the Shard & Baby Shard. I used to "go to work" with my Dad on many a Saturday morning, to various building sites around London, on the train from Falconwood to London Bridge & beyond.

But the occasional highlight on the way home at lunchtime, would be to call into just that model shop to acquire that small addition to the railway, be it a wagon or a small building, or something else. Also on the Saturday's I did not "go to work", he would often bring me home a surprise package, from the Shop. Great memories for me as well, provoked by yours - Thank you for that very much.

Cheers,

Norm
 
B
#14 ·
QUOTE (6991 @ 7 Jul 2013, 09:53) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>My modelling inspirations come next, and remember in this regard, both London Bridge and Liverpool Street were real stations, with model shops. London Bridge in the forecourt shops and Liverpool St in the arcade. Anyone else remember??

6991I remember crossing the road at Liverpool Street with my mother and visiting the arcade model shop. Was it Bassett Lowke - I recall 'O' gauge stuff in the window? There was also a loco in a glass cabinet and if an appropriate coin was inserted in the slot, the wheels would whizz round.
 
B
#15 ·
For me the station has to be Basingstoke. Not as complicated as Reading General up one of the lines but lots going on with emu's demu's, sometimes dmu's, loco hauled freight and passenger with the odd cross country as well. Happy days spotting and exploring with my first born, and listening to shunting in the dead of night when I should have been asleep !

Always fancied spending some time at Lewis when I lived in Hastings - but when I passed through their didn't seem to be to much going on.
 
#16 ·
Back to Ambergate. Hopefully I am not treading on anyone's toes by posting the following but it's a slow Sunday afternoon; the F1 race is over and I'm trying to avoid the tennis. There is of course a fabulous P4 layout of this station:

Ambergate P4 layout video

Same layout, different video

The railways in that area:

Image


and a scene from yesteryore, Midland types passing on the curve that linked the West and North junctions:

Image


Best regards ............... Greyvoices (alias John)
 
#17 ·
QUOTE (Greyvoices @ 7 Jul 2013, 16:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Back to Ambergate. Hopefully I am not treading on anyone's toes by posting the following but it's a slow Sunday afternoon; the F1 race is over and I'm trying to avoid the tennis.Certainly not mine, John! It's just an idea as far as I'm concerned - one day, perhaps!
I was always inspired by a good friend of mine who was building a 7mm scale model (a long time ago!).

QUOTE (Greyvoices @ 7 Jul 2013, 16:06) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>There is of course a fabulous P4 layout of this station:
Ambergate P4 layout video WOW!
Thanks for the link, this is really stunning!
Cheers,
John E.
 
6
#18 ·
Greyvoices, Norm
Thanks for your kind comments about my post above. Just trying to tell it like I saw it. Here in front of me is my Summer 1958 edition of the Combined Volume - it grubby because it's been used. But what memories it brings back. My dad deserves all the blame - this was part of my birthday present in 1958. I was 6yo for Pete's sake! But I just sucked it all in and by that time could already tell the difference between a Britannia and a Clan, having seen 72009 Clan Stewart during one of those evening sessions on Stratford station in 1957 (from memory) while waiting for the Hook Continental.
Cheers
6991
 
#19 · (Edited by Moderator)
Ah! The old Liverpool Street is being recalled. Strange how modellers seem to favour the old station.
Here is an evocative link http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/03/11/at-...ool-st-station/

I too have childhood memories of LS through all its sulphurous wartime Jazz activity. The great west side smoke blackened arched roof was edged around with hanging spikes against the sky like your last view out of some scary monster's mouth.
And just past the working model of Stephenson's Rocket (which I always clamoured to activate with a penny) was that very sinister Black Hole. Truly the way down to Hell.
As you departed, down in the gloom in the old GE carriages of the Epping train, you might perhaps peer up and catch a glimpse the maroon LMS Oerlikon stock gliding in and out of the sunlight Broad Street.

But by the time I joined the Eastern Region Civil Engineer's office in 1960 the last impatient beating of Westinghouse air pumps was drowned out by martial music playing over the loudspeakers introduced by Gerry Fiennes to get the commuters scurrying. A sweet little blue J69 served as the pet station pilot.
Even then there was a small working group in the office at King's+ said to be to figuring out how the two sides of the station separated by that Black Hole might be united.

At that date the LMR were scheming the destruction of the Euston arch for the "new" Euston - so we must be pleased LS escaped that fate.

LF&T

PS Lovely pics of Ambergate - both 1:1 and @ 1:57
 
G
#20 ·
Hi all

Perhaps someone can answer a question that I've never really understood. It's not a critism by the way.

If you have a dream layout you would love to build how do you settle for something less? Do you find that you tend to go for quick win type layouts to effectively scratch the itch?

Cheers

Jim
 
#21 · (Edited by Moderator)
QUOTE (jim s-w @ 8 Jul 2013, 10:28) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Hi all

Perhaps someone can answer a question that I've never really understood. It's not a critism by the way.

If you have a dream layout you would love to build how do you settle for something less? Do you find that you tend to go for quick win type layouts to effectively scratch the itch?

Cheers

Jim

For me the answer is easy .......... we live in two realities, the "what if" reality and the "this is what is possible" reality.

The "what if" is a pleasurable activity we indulge by day dreaming that you have won the lottery, married an heiress/heir, discovered that you are the long lost love child of Mr. Carnegie ......... you get the idea. You know it will never happen but within the daydream you can construct the ultimate layout.

In the "this is what is possible" reality we take cognisance of our financial situation, responsibilities to family, work commitments, skill levels, availability of suitable models, space limitations, etc. etc. ........................ and with all that in mind we push to do our very best, making a model that we can be proud of. It doesn't matter if it's a simple shunting plank or a shed filling mainline because it is something that we have created.

"What if" layouts stay in the mind whilst a "this is what is possible" layout can and does get built and is therefore all the more enjoyable. The trump card is creativity.

To further illustrate my point, the "what if" woman for me was Sophia Loren but the 40 years with my "this is what is possible" wife have been irreplaceable.

Best regards ................... Greyvoices (alias John)
 
G
#23 ·
QUOTE (Greyvoices @ 8 Jul 2013, 11:14) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>The "what if" is a pleasurable activity we indulge by day dreaming that you have won the lottery, married an heiress/heir, discovered that you are the long lost love child of Mr. Carnegie ......... you get the idea. You know it will never happen but within the daydream you can construct the ultimate layout.

I haven't done any of that, I'm on a fairly low wage but I'm still building the layout I want. The difference is I've accepted it may take 30+ years.

Cheers

Jim
 
#24 ·
This is my dream:
but it is rather hard to model (Google Saul Steinberg train stations (or trains) to get more amazing fantasy railroad art from this inspirational cartoonist from the 1940-50s "New Yorker".
In my dreams I often wander around vast higgeldy-piggeldy train stations at night - like the old Euston with its weird secret platforms smelling of fish hidden between the Departure and Arrival platforms and, tucked away in recesses, large baskets of dirty bed linen marked "To be returned to Crewe" - presumably to be washed.
It was Betjeman himself who got me seriously hooked on the atmospherics of railway stations (and churches) as an avid reader of his weekly 'City and Suburban' Spectator column that we got in the school library. Someone really ought to do a omnibus collection of those classic pieces.

Piermaster posted recently about Lisbon and its railways and trams - including the Eiffel lift.
Here might be my contender: the beautifully restored Eiffel terminus station in Maputo, capital of Mozambique (the former Portuguese colony) - and the adjacent art deco railway workers club.
When I took these photos there was one train departure a week - to Johannesburg.

LF&T
 

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#25 ·
To each his own Jim. I admire the hard work, dogged perseverance and undoubted skill that have gone into the creation of New Street but that sort of effort would not suit everybody.

To be honest, I would find it impossible to create my ultimate dream layout in even one lifetime. The standards that I would set, in fact do set in my minds eye are way beyond my skill level and would test the present limits of micro-engineering. I would accept no compromise, steamers would steam, diesels would burn diesel, electrics would score their contact strips. Points would interlock, rails would need to be de-stressed, trains would be driven from the cab or footplate, brakes would brake and ..... and.

For me what we have is all compromise so any amount of effort over any amount of time falls short of the ultimate. With that in mind, there is no quick win. You said it yourself Jim, you are constructing the layout that you want, just as the vast majority of modellers are doing.

Best regards .................. Greyvoices (alias John)
 
#26 · (Edited by Moderator)
QUOTE (Bizman @ 8 Jul 2013, 12:49) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>That reminds me, I have been meaning to ask, but why were the Enfield Town and Chingford services known as 'The Jazz'?
Jazz because 1920 marked the start of the Jazz age, the intensive steam service was introduced by an American GER General Manager and maybe because the collected ranks of AJ Hill tanks' across the west side buffer stops all emitted a distinctive hustling Westinghouse jazz beat .

A quote from the first (and very bad) railway history I ever bought... " The most outstanding achievement of the Thornton regime in all probability was the suburban service introduced on July 12th 1920 between Liverpool Street, Enfield Town, Walthamstow and Chingford. .... it is sufficient to say here that it is the most complete answer to electrical operation that steam has ever given: never before or since in railway history have steam locomotives been resonsible for working suburban trains at 2 1/2 minutes intervals over the same set of metals." (p78, CJ Allen "The Great Eastern Railway", Ian Allan 1955)

I'd argue (in hindsight) it was the most short sighted management decision taken by the American Henry Worth Thornton formerly of the Long Island Railroad - compared to what companies like the Brighton with their OHL electrification were facing up to.
Holden's 0-10-0 ludicrously heavy Decapod one-off was an earlier attempt by the GER to stave off the inevitability of suburban electrification.

LF&T
 
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